University of California, Los Angeles

Elective on Integrative East-West Medicine (1st Year Medical and Nursing Students)

The 6-week Selective is offered through the UCLA Center for East-West Medicine. Students are taught about the similarities & differences between traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and modern Western medicine as well as their respective strengths & weaknesses in their approach to patient care. Through didactics and discussions, they will gain a basic understanding of the theory, diagnostic skills, treatment principles, and techniques used in TCM, and the basics about how to incorporate TCM theory and practice into a biopsychosocial framework to evaluate and treat patients with common clinical problems. The experiential learning components include interviews with patients and case studies.

Lecture Series on Integrative East-West Medicine (3rd Year Medical Students)

The UCLA Center for East-West Medicine offers a series of lectures throughout the year to the UCLA third year medical students as part of their core Family and Ambulatory Medicine Clerkship. These lectures cover the hallmark features of integrative medicine as well as expose students to how the center’s brand of integrative East-West Medicine is practiced. Furthermore, these lectures are designed to stimulate thinking and help students re-evaluate their perspective on the art and practice of medicine. A highlight of this course is the acupuncture demonstration and practical, which gives each student the opportunity to perform and experience acupuncture.

Elective on Integrative East-West Medicine (4th Year Medical Students)

UCLA Center for East-West Medicine offers a 2-week full-time elective that is intended to provide students with a basic understanding of the theory, diagnostic skills, treatment principles, and techniques used in traditional Chinese medicine, the similarities and differences between TCM and modern Western medicine as well as their respective strengths and weaknesses in their approach to patient care. Through didactics and clinical practice sessions, students are shown how integration of the two systems of medicine can be utilized to improve patient care. Students are introduced to the progress of modern research on TCM and integrative East-West medicine and understand how the theory and practice of TCM can add value to conventional biomedicine in a manner that is guided by patient safety, scientific evidence and patient preferences.

Elective on Integrative Cancer Medicine (for Medical Students)

This course program (offered by Stiles Program in Integrative Oncology??) is intended to introduce students to current concepts and practices in integrative cancer medicine, with opportunities for both research and clinical experiences. Students will learn about methods used for the discovery of new anti-tumor therapeutics from natural sources and about new evidence-based approaches in clinical-translational research. In addition, students will participate on an inpatient palliative care service for patients with advanced malignancy and on several outpatient services emphasizing conventional as well as alternative and complementary medical practices in oncology.

Integrative East-West Medicine Elective for Residents

The UCLA Center for East-West Medicine offers a two to four week rotation program for medical students and residents. The program aims to introduce a patient-centered approach incorporating traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) as a major representative of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) traditions in clinical problem-solving through didactics, case discussion, group discussion, and clinical practice sessions At the end of this elective, students will gain a basic understanding of the theory, diagnostic skills, treatment principles, and techniques used in TCM, similarities and differences between traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and modern Western medicine, and show how integration of the two systems of medicine can be utilized to improve patient care. They will learn about the state of research on integrative East-West medicine and key acupuncture points as well as their application in the treatment of medical conditions commonly encountered in clinical practice.